Suitability of Commercial Plantations in Southeast Asia (co-funded by ASEA Uninet, Austria for 2016)

INTRODUCTION

Commercial cultivation of various trees and crops are growing as a solid base for socio-economic development in several parts of Southeast Asia and there is a need to identify new areas for further expansion of these plantations. The natural (climatic and physiographic) and infrastructural conditions supporting the expansion of commercial cultivation vary from crop to crop so it is crucial to perform multi-variate analysis of the suitable conditions.

The major factors requiring geospatial analysis for assessing the potential of commercial cultivation of various crops/ plantations are following: 

• Physical Factors (altitude, slope, aspect, soils) 
• Climatic Factors (temperature, precipitation)
• Existing Pattern of Crops / Plantations
• Infrastructural Factors (irrigation, availability of processing facilities, proximity to market etc.)
• Social Factors (population, gender, age-structure, education levels, professional skills etc.)
• Relative Advantage Scenarios (for assessing the feasibility and profitability of alternative crops / plantations)

The defined specific goals cut cross several academic and applied disciplines and these require multi-disciplinary competences for understanding and analysing the interplay of these factors. The jumble of social, economic, environmental and developmental issues various societies face today certainly require integration and analysis of several types of data and applications of new technologies and methodologies help making the analytical processes efficient and effective.

OBJECTIVE

• develop in-depth understanding of spatial patterns of various natural, social and economic phenomena
• introduce a variety of sophisticate methods and efficient GIS-technologies to analyse various processes
• give 'hands-on' practical training using GIS-software for capturing, processing and analysing various types of spatial information for re-presenting the present, re-constructing the past and projecting the future trends.

ACTIVITIES

• Organise a short intensive ‘Faculty Development Workshops’ at the host institution in Thailand and invite participants from several ASEA Uninet member Universities in Southeast Asia.

The reason for organising a short intensive multi-partner ‘Faculty Development Workshop’ is to network with several institutions (to share the ’know-how’ and generate higher multiplier effect within a short period (1 week) and initiate an academic network for future scientific cooperation among several institutions of higher education.

PARTNERS

Organiser Institutions

AUSTRIA:  - Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS,  University of Salzburg, Salzburg  - ASEA Uninet, Austria   THAILAND:  - Department of Geography, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai

Participant Institutions

INDONESIA:  - Diponegoro University, Semarang  - Udayana University, Denpasar  - University of Indonesia, Depok MALAYSIA:  - University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur  - National University of Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor PHILIPPINES:  - University of the Philippines, Diliman   THAILAND:  - Chiang Mai University, Chaing Mai  - Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok  - Mahidol University, Bangkok  - Prince of Songkla University, Phuket

OUTCOMES (see the blog here)

• An intensive Faculty Development Workshop was organised at the Department of Geography, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai from 3rd to 7th October, 2016.
• 27 teachers and postgraduate students participates in the workshop and complete individual Geospatial practical projects assessing the Suitability of Commercial Plantations in Southeast Asia. All the participants presented the outcomes of their individual projects in the concluding seminar.
  

Contact: Dr. Shahnawaz, Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS, University of Salzburg, Austria.